[New] Griping about success

I’ll never understand some sports fans. When it comes to their teams, there is a not-insignificant portion of people will choose misery and pain over success nine times out of ten. And to those people, I just have to ask; “What the heck are we here for?”

Over the last few weeks, the New York Mets—and owner Steve Cohen—have embarked on a historic off-season spending spree, throwing serious dollars at free agents that—one would hope— would finally lead the Amazin’s to the promise land and a World Series Title.

Lose Jacob deGrom? No worries, let’s just bring in Justin Verlander and top-international free agent Kodai Senga. Edwin Diaz had a nice year in 2022? Let’s lock him up for the next five years. The Carlos Correa saga—though far from over at the time of publication—is yet another example of the Mets’ top brass being willing to go above and beyond when it comes to making Flushing an attractive landing spot for high-priced free agents.

And yet there is a specific subsection of Mets fans who seem to be upset with these moves; namely, the Met fan who has relished the role of underdog in this town.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if this particular Met fan was happy with the way things were being run before Cohen took over. Of course they hated the penny-pinching Wilpons and the short-sighted financial moves that doomed the Mets to mediocrity more often than not.

But now, when faced with being one of the true favorites to be playing in late October, these fans scoff as if “buying a championship” is somehow beneath them.

I get it, to a point. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I always turned my nose up at our neighbors in the Bronx, chalking that late-90s success up to a willingness to out- spend other teams. But you know what? Winning championships is fun, as I’d later find out and I don’t really care one way or another how my team gets there.

Ultimately, I look at this defeatist mindset as a function of historical bad outcomes. Some Met fans— not all—have been conditioned to expect the worst for their team and chalking collapses up to the ineptitude of ownership is a convenient excuse, a much more palatable way to choke down some of the heartbreak the franchise has experienced over the years.

So when it comes to building a “super-team,” these fans clearly feel uncomfortable in embracing their roles as frontrunners, and are bristling against these moves—at least during the winter months.

I assure you that, come June, if Verlander is tossing darts and Correa is socking dingers and the Mets are in firm control of the NL East, you won’t find these Mets fans talking about being just as loathsome as the Yankees—they’ll be 100% on board, for sure.

But if the Mets stumble out of the gate, the chorus of “I told you sos” will become deafening. And that’s the beauty of this charade; hoping for the best while publicly